Tax Slave – Bohemian Grove / Religion / 2006 Self / 2 Tracks / http://www.myspace.com/taxslave / Reviewed 06 September 2006

For each piece of music we receive for the magazine at NeuFutur, we try to write a review that goes over the four hundred word mark. When we receive singles, or a single backed with a b-side, our duty is much more of a burden. Still, we always try to provide a full review for whatever we receive. Anyways, Tax Slave has sent us this “Bohemian Grove” single, backed with “Religion”. For those of you not in the know, Tax Slave consists of Ryan from Hungry Ghost, a band that was rated fairly highly off the “Smash The States’ compilation that came out last year.

For “Bohemian Grove”, there seems to be a thread of overselling a number of things. First off, the distortion seems to just cloak any virtuosity that could be shown with the axe, while the vocals are trying to elicit someone like Iggy Pop. However, instead of falling into an Iggy Pop state of mind with these vocals, the style seems just to be Ryan’s vocals lowered to an (almost) comedic level. Another thing that seems to hamstring Tax Slave on “Bohemian Grove” has to be the drums that are present. You see, I do not have a problem with sequenced, computerized drums. It’s just one has to try to make them sound at least halfway convincing. As it is right now, it feels as if Ryan uses the same sample over a number of times during the track, without changing up anything.

The vocals eventually evolve into something that is closer to Fred Schneider and Devo than anything, while the distortion lightens up to allow for a very nineties type of riff to dominate. I can’t get the idea out of my head that Tax Slave is just a better-recorded version of Steve Lieberman, though. The bass line that starts out “Religion” seems to put Tax Slave on better footing, as does the guitar that ebbs and flows into something much more than the slide down the neck that the track started out with. Tax Slave’s vocals during this track try harder to follow into the tradition of individuals like Jello Biafra, but there still seems to be a little greenness to Tax Slave’s compositions. I would like to hear more from Tax Slave in the future, but the act should try to go more towards what was created with “Religion” then what happened during “Bohemian Grove”.

Top Track: Religion

Rating: 5.2/10

[JMcQ]